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Overcast Local attorney charged with stealing $16,000 from clients
Escrow funds were supposed to pay off taxes on sale of apartment
An attorney from Lido Beach was arrested on Wednesday after she allegedly stole more than $16,000 from an escrow account that was supposed to be used to cover state taxes on the sale of her clients’ New York City apartment.
Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said that Susan Odery, 56, was charged with two counts of third-degree grand larceny, a felony. Odery was arraigned on Wednesday before Nassau County District Court Judge Tricia Ferrell and released on her own recognizance. She is due back in court on April 4.
“The attorney-client relationship is pivotal to the functioning of our society and when that bond is broken, our entire legal system is weakened,” Rice said in a statement. “My office will continue to pursue these cases to make sure that the trust all clients should have in their attorneys is never misplaced.”
Rice said that on April 25, 2012, a New Jersey mother and daughter attended the closing on the sale of a New York City apartment that they owned, with Odery representing them as their attorney. At the closing, it was agreed that $16,758 would be applied for the payment of New York State taxes.
According to Rice, Odery wrote out two checks at the closing to pay the taxes. But when New York State attempted to cash the checks on May 16, 2012, and again on May 18, 2012, the checks were returned as unpaid, according to Rice. Odery’s bank later informed investigators from Rice’s office that Odery had placed a stop payment on the checks. A check of the daily balance for that account revealed that there were insufficient funds to make that payment, Rice said.
Last April, Rice said that the victims discovered that the taxes had not been paid when they received a bill for penalties from the New York Department of Taxation and Finance for not submitting their estimated tax on the sale of their apartment in a timely manner.
